The Proudest Man
by TheCaptainandThePostulant
Summary: One night, four years after marrying Maria and fleeing to Switzerland, Georg sits and thinks about his wife and his children and all that they've accomplished over the years and comes to the conclusion that he is the proudest man living. Disclaimer: I know that this is an awful summary, but I promise that the fic is better. Please review! x


**Author's Note: I hope that you all enjoy this little one-shot!**

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From where he was sat in the armchair beside the window in their bedroom one night, Georg smiled as he gazed over at his wife and watched her sleep. Maria was lying on her stomach, the quilt pooled around her hips as her bare back was exposed to the cool night air that entered through the window. Her cropped blonde hair was still a mess from how he had thread his fingers through it whilst making love to her earlier that night also, and he believed she looked all the more attractive because of that.

Four years.

Four years he had been married to her now and he still loved her just as much as he had done on the night that he had asked her to marry him. The two of them had been through so much together over the years: their flee from Austria, their long walk to Switzerland and three miscarriages, but the deep love that the two of them shared had survived all of that. Even though things hadn't been simple for them, however, there had been far more good times than bad for the two of them and their children.

For example – just a year after their arrival in Zurich – Maria had pushed their first baby, whom both of them had decided to call Rosemarie, into the world with Liesl right beside her. Just two years after that, Liesl had been accepted onto a nursing course and – once she had passed – had begun to work at the nearby hospital. It was at the hospital that she had come to know Noah Allaman, a surgeon, of whom she was now the wife of and had a rambunctious nine-month-old son, named Benjamin, with.

It was rather strange not having her living under the same roof as the rest of them these days, but he and Maria still had their work cut out for them with their younger children. Friedrich had just turned eighteen and was about to enter the army, something that he'd been longing to do for several years, Louisa was seventeen and studying hard in the hope that she would pass her last exams and become a teacher, and Kurt was fifteen and was hoping that – in the future – he'd join the army like Friedrich.

Their youngest children, however, weren't yet thinking about their futures in so much depth and that pleased him and Maria. Brigitta, who was now fourteen, was still obsessed with reading and was still as much a father's girl as she had been since he had reconciled with her and the others. His favourite thing about her was how she would settle down beside him on the settee after supper each evening, a book in her hand, and cuddle against him whilst she read until her mother told her to go up to bed.

Marta and Gretl, who were now eleven and nine, hadn't changed a bit either. The two of them were still just as mischievous as they had been back in Salzburg and loved running around in the fields with Albern and Alphonse, the sheepdogs, from dawn until dusk. Maria always tutted and said that it was going to take hours for her to get their dresses clean when they came in for dinner, but there would always be a smirk on her lips. He knew she couldn't scold them since she was just like them as a child.

Their three-year-old daughter, Rosemarie, was somewhat different compared to the others. She was far more independent and preferred to play alone in a quiet spot with her toys than run around with Marta and Gretl. He and Maria knew, however, that she'd start to take an interest in what the others were doing and start to join in with them as she got older. For the time being she just preferred to do her own thing and make up her own games and there wasn't a thing wrong with that. Not one thing.

The feeling of a little hand coming to rest on his chest brought him out of his thoughts after a couple of minutes and, when he looked down, he smiled when he saw that his precious Augusta was staring up at him from the cradle of his arms. There wasn't a single word to truly describe how gorgeous she was. She was the spitting image of her mother, from her fair hair to her bright blue eyes, and he was enamoured by her. Her perfect resemblance to Maria was why he'd wanted her name to be Augusta.

Augusta was Maria's middle name and he had thought that it suited their youngest daughter so well.

When he felt the six-month-old's sharp little nails scratch his chest each time she opened and closed her hand he chuckled and lowered his head to press his lips against her hairline, the love that he had for her deepening when she cooed in response. He pulled back from her after lingering for just a few seconds so that he could breathe in her scent, a sigh escaping him when she brought her hand to her mouth and started to chew on it. He knew that that was a sign that it was time for Maria to feed her.

'Bring her here…'

Before he could even rise from the chair with Augusta to go and wake Maria, however, his wife's soft whisper reached his ears and he gazed over at the bed. He then watched her turn onto her back with a yawn, her hand coming up to ease her hair out of her face before she sat up and leaned against the headboard. Still amazed at how she was always able to sense when one of her babies needed her, he rose from the chair and carried Augusta over to her before lowering her gently into her waiting arms.

'I still have no idea how you do that.' He admitted as he sat down next to her on the bed and she got Augusta latched onto her, a smile on her lips when she faced him once their baby was suckling away.

'I've told you before,' She reminded him. 'A mother just knows when one of her babies need her.'

The two of them shared a slow kiss before he got beneath the covers and slipped his arm around her shoulders, Maria sighing as she held their little girl more securely and allowed her head to rest on his shoulder. She then watched Augusta suckle at her breast with her eyes closed, her eyelashes beating against her cheeks as she made little noises of delight. 'We do make some beautiful babies, my love.' She heard Georg whisper into her hair before tilting her head back on his shoulder to gaze up at him.

'We do, don't we?' She replied.

He gave her lips a gentle brush with his own before saying: 'Perhaps we should make another.'

She giggled when he kissed her lips again before holding her tighter. 'It's funny you should say that…'

His eyes widened as he instantly understood her meaning. 'You're not...?'

'Pregnant?' She smirked. 'Is it such a shock? We haven't exactly been…abstinent…recently, have we?'

He knew she was right.

The two of them had found it rather hard to keep their hands to themselves for some time now.

He chuckled at her remark before nuzzling a languid kiss onto her forehead. 'How far along are you?'

'Two months, nearly three,' She admitted. 'I found out the other day.'

'Well, that explains why you've been feeling so unwell and more tired than usual.' He said.

'I can't tell whether I'm tired because of the pregnancy or because Rosemarie has decided she wants to be a mother's girl again,' She chuckled. 'She's been following me around like a lost sheep for days.'

Georg smiled at the thought of their little girl. 'How are you and the baby? Is everything all right?'

'Everything's fine,' She reassured him. 'The doctor's still worried about my kidneys though, so he told me that I need to rest for an hour-or-so each day and to try to keep things as stress-free as possible.'

'He's right,' He ran his hand up and down her arm. 'I don't want anything happening to either of you.'

She snuggled further into him with a contented sigh. 'You're pleased, aren't you?'

'Of course I'm pleased,' He nodded. 'You've always looked breath-taking whilst pregnant.'

'And I don't when I'm not pregnant?' She teased.

He rolled his eyes before kissing her bottom lip and dragging it through his teeth when he drew back.

'You are, and always will be, the most desirable woman on earth as far as I'm concerned.' He smiled.

'Well, that's a relief.' She said before the two of them laughed and settled back down together.

Whilst watching their little girl suck at his wife's breast, Georg reached out to twist one of her blonde curls around his index finger. 'She's going to be the most wonderful big sister, isn't she?' He inquired.

'She is.' Maria nodded.

After kissing her bare shoulder, he asked: 'When should we tell the children?'

'I was thinking that we might tell them at dinner on Friday evening. Liesl and Noah are coming to join us and it's our last one with Friedrich before he leaves on Saturday morning,' She sighed in response. 'I know it's silly; he isn't even mine, but I truly feel sick when I think about Friedrich going off to war.'

'I've told you before, Maria, that all of our children are yours. You might not have given birth to all of them, but you're their mother in every other sense. You feeling sick about Friedrich leaving isn't silly, it's justified because you love him and you hate the thought of him getting harmed. I think he's going to be fine though, darling, and Captain Amacher has reassured me that he'll keep a close eye on him.'

Maria nodded her response before he nuzzled her neck.

'I love you.' She whispered.

'I love you too,' He reassured her before kissing her neck. 'So much.'

Once she had had her final few sucks at her mother's breast, Augusta released her nipple and peeled back from her, her breathing rather heavy as there was a coating of milk on her lips. Chuckling, Maria used her thumb to remove the milk from her daughter's lips before sitting her up and pressing a soft kiss to the crown of her head. She then held her little girl close for a few seconds before her husband stroked her hair tenderly and said: 'Let me have her and take her back to her cot for you, my darling.'

She allowed him to take their little girl out of her arms then before he left the bed with her, balanced her on her hip and carried her over to her cot on the other side of the room. After reaching it, he sat Augusta down on the mattress before picking up her pacifier and wiggling it into her mouth. He then waited for her to lie herself down before giving her comfort blanket to her, pulling the quilt up to her stomach and running a hand over her hair. 'Night-night, sweetheart,' He whispered. 'Sweet dreams.'

Once he had turned off the lamp that sat on the set of drawers beside her cot he came away from it and began to walk back in the direction of his bed, a smile appearing on his lips when he saw that his wife had laid herself back down and was waiting for him to join her. Within moments he had climbed back into bed beside her and settled down, his heart swelling with love for her when her eyes closed when he ran the back of his hand down her cheek. 'You are so beautiful…' He told her in a soft voice.

'You aren't too bad yourself.' She admitted when her eyes fluttered open again.

He opened his arms to her once the two of them had laid in silence together for a couple of minutes, his wife shuffling into them without a moment's hesitation before her head came to rest on his chest and she draped her arm across his stomach. 'It's strange,' He said after a time. 'To think that you and Liesl will be giving birth just three months apart.' He heard his wife giggle quietly in response to that.

'That's what I thought when I found out about the baby.' She admitted. 'I think it'll be nice though.'

He nodded with a hum. 'The babies will grow up together.'

'Benjamin's so excited to be a big brother.' She told him. 'Liesl told me he keeps on kissing her belly.'

Georg chuckled. 'I've never known a little boy to be so like his mother.'

'He's such a sweetheart,' She ran her fingers along his side. 'I love him to pieces.'

'And I'm certain that he loves you just as much.' He kissed her on the top of her head.

She tilted her head back on his chest a little while later before stroking his jawline with her fingertips.

'I can't believe we've been married for four years.' She shook her head.

He smiled. 'They've been the most incredible four years of my life.'

'Mine too.' She whispered before stretching up to give him three slow kisses on the lips.

After breaking their kiss, she settled in his arms again and allowed her head to lie on his shoulder, her thigh hooking itself over his hip beneath the covers before she snuggled into his warmth. 'You should get some sleep,' Georg ran his hand up and down her naked back. 'Auggie will be awake again soon.'

'You won't let go of me, will you?' She murmured into his neck whilst he turned off the lamp.

'No,' He shook his head. 'No, I won't let go of you.'

A silence then fell over the two of them for quite some time until the gentle sound of Maria's snores filled the air and Georg pressed his lips to her temple. Even though he had been her husband for four years now, how much he loved her still overwhelmed him sometimes. He had loved Agathe, yes, but there was just something about Maria that made him love her a little bit more. She was so incredible.

Before he drifted off to sleep that night, he thought about just how blessed he was to have his family.

He had a beautiful wife whom he knew he would be lost without, nine – soon to be ten – wonderful children who never failed to make him smile with the little things that they did and, last but certainly not least, a handsome grandson whom he adored and who reminded him so much of his sweet Liesl.

He knew that he was privileged to have a family as perfect as his.

He knew that he was blessed to have another beautiful child on the way.

But, most of all, he knew that he – out of all of them on the earth – was the proudest man.

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**Author's Note: Thank you all so much for taking the time to read this one-shot and I hope that you liked it! I also hope that, if you have the time, you'll review and let me know what you thought x**


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